I'm a woody--still using the three pig-shaped maple boards my father-in-law made for us 23 years ago.

I clean with soap and water and have never oiled. Maybe I'm a lucky optimist, but I'm of the school that exposure to bacteria is a good thing. It's kind of like lifting weights--keeps you in shape immunilogically. Viruses and bacteria don't make you sick, it's the inability of your body to fight them.

Anyway, since my wife has very sensitive taste buds, I have the pig face to the left for savory--meat, garlic, onion, tomato, etc. I flip it over to face right for sweet--apples, mango, pineapple. Ginger can go either way depending on the dish.

JUST A NOTE....BE CAREFUL OF ANY BOARDS MADE IN CHINA...AS YOU MAY KNOW A LOT OF PRODUCTS ARE BEING FOUND CONTAINING LEAD AND VARIOUS OTHER CHEMICALS. FLEXIBLE CUTTING BOARDS MADE IN THE USA ARE FDA APPROVED AND ARE 100% SAFE. I WOULD NOT CUT UP MEAT SCRAPS FOR MY DOG ON ANYTHING IMPORTED FROM CHINA. ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY.[/b]

I am rehabbing a kitchen and the under the counter cutting board was stuck in its slot. After much tugging the board finally came free, complete with dried mouse dropping and stains. I've scrubbed it and it looks clean and stain free, but will it ever be clean enough to use again? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Sherri in Texas

I have gotten several beautiful bamboo cutting boards at TJ Maxx. I was surprised by the amount of relatively high-end cooking supplies at a store that I had thought to be mainly full of discount clothing and shoes. They have boards, knives, pots, pans as well as spices and jarred sauces in their housewares sections.

I always hear that bamboo can be prohibitively expensive, but you can get boards there for $5-30. Definitely worth checking out.

an objection to using a clorox solution to clean a cutting board is that clorox is cancer causing. please what is your response to this?

I don't really have a response for this.. but I did spend the last twenty minutes searching for any "proof" that household bleach causes cancer. Apparently there are a lot of "healthy living" websites and books that claim this, but I have yet to find an authoritative source that makes this claim. Obviously, I'm not well versed in this area, so if anyone wants to help out and find me a paper or report that suggests there is a causal link between bleach and cancer, please respond. (And, no websites that have names like "Committee to Protect the Family Health" or "Living Life Research" please...)

Sometimes, the MSDS sheets are a bit overdone, especially considering that the exact same home products, when applied with a commercial label, such as with bleach or hand soap. For example, in my office, the MSDS label for hand soap says "in case of contact with skin, wash with soap and water."

Last edited by GaryProtein on Tue Apr 29, 2008 6:03 pm; edited 1 time in total

I'm a cook, and work in a kitchen store, neither of which make me an expert, but I've done enough research to put a few cents in:

First, wood vs plastic. Wood doesn't "kill" bacteria, but it doesn't support live bacteria as well as plastic. The following link is to a University study where they looked at both, and found that bacteria generally didn't live as long on wood as plastic. As a disclaimer, it *is* from the John Boos (manufacturer of wood boards) web site, but it's NOT their study

I've used wood for most everything (vegetables and cooked meat) for years. I clean it with hot soapy water every night, a thin bleach solution every once in a while, and oil it with mineral oil every couple of months. I've had the same board for about 5 years, and it's working great.

I use a big slab of poly plastic board for raw meat and poultry, then just shove it right in the dishwasher.

Nobody in my family has gotten sick yet.

The idea isn't to make your surfaces "sterile", or to remove all bacteria from your environment. As was mentioned, there's bacteria all over the place. The idea is to avoid, especially, things like salmonella and e coli...and cross contaminating with above mentioned meanies.

Granite: death on your knives, same with glass, stainless steel, or anything else that doesn't show cuts.

Our store sells Epicurean cutting boards, which are wood fiber, as well as Wusthof knives. Our Wusthof rep has never mentioned anything to us about them, and they do show cuts (which is generally the final test for cutability). If it doesn't show cuts, it's killing your knives. We also sharpen knives, and haven't had complaints about them.